The Princess Blog

In 2023, two "Cinderella" inspired musicals  made their way to Broadway and promptly closed within less than a year. On the other side of the world, a different fairy tale-inspired musical was enchanting audiences across Europe. Snow White & Me  is a portal fantasy like Between the Lines  with self-aware fairy tale characters who want to change their pre-written destinies, similar to Ever After High and Once Upon a Time . The story shares elements with the Britney Spears jukebox musical, Once Upon a One More Time , but its original soundtrack is vastly superior, as are the costumes and plot, which thankfully doesn't have a forced feminist agenda . According to the show's official website, it was commissioned in 2018 for European productions and seeks to find its way to the American stage in the future. As of last month, the English soundtrack for Snow White & Me became widely available online and can be listened to for free on YouTube . Like  with all good mu...

National Tell a Fairy Tale Day has quickly become one of my favorite days of the year. Once obscure and unknown, February 26th has become the best day to score amazing bargains on fairy tale adaptations from all the best fantasy authors. These annual festivities started as a Facebook party  with many reader interactions. Last year, independent author and fairy tale queen  Brittany Fichter  decided to host the event as a series of linked blog posts  which, though more accessible, creates less opportunity for live interactions with the authors. However, the celebrations continue to include a vast array of fairy tale-related games, activities, and free or discounted ebooks to read throughout the year. This year's fairy tale webring, Once Upon 2024, features 13 authors of various fairy tale adaptation series. Each author made a post introducing herself, sharing some fun fairy tale-related activities, and contributed at least one complimentary ebook from her collection. ...

"The Little Seamstress" Once upon a time, there was a poor girl living in a small village with her father. The two were in mourning for the tragic death of her mother, who taught her how to be a seamstress like she was. The girl, whose name was Beatrice, diligently took on her mother's profession and mended garments for the residents of the small village. One client named Prunella seemed to visit more and more often and spent a great deal of time talking to Beatrice's father. Prunella would bring things like a skirt with a missing button that appeared to be torn off or other clothes with small rips that did not look like they happened by accident. Soon, Beatrice learned that the woman was to become her new stepmother. On the night of her father's wedding, Prunella demanded a gift from her soon-to-be stepdaughter. Beatrice had little to offer. She tried offering a prized pincushion, some of her finest needles, and even her favorite spool of fabric that shimmered li...

Too much screen time can lead to eye strain and cause headaches, so I've been researching some fun  princess board game options to save my eyes. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that many of the games I played as a child are still around. If you're throwing a princess party and need some fun activities to do with your friends, here are a few of my favorites. Unfortunately, not all of these games are available right now, so I'll start this list with the ones that are. Pretty Pretty Princess This game was a staple of my childhood. I was amazed to see that they still make it as I perused the game aisles of a book store. It looks a little different from the mint green box I remember as a kid, but it's still very much the same game. Each player must collect every piece of jewelry available in her preferred color and top it off with the bedazzled crown to win. Not only is the  classic game  still available with some minor updates to the crown, but there is also a Disney Pr...

"The Secret of the Forest" Hidden deep within the darkest depths of the woods was a magic portal that led to a land of great riches beyond a person's wildest imagination. These glittering jewels and gold nuggets were the lifeblood that allowed the faeries who resided there to live forever. In order to ensure that no one discovered this hidden paradise, the faeries were guarded by Princess Abeline, whose family was long gone due to the odd passage of time within the hidden land. The fae were all she had left, and she was determined to protect them with her life. Rumors had spread of the secret treasure, but no one knew the exact location of the portal. No one was more determined to find it than a treasure hunter named Jules, who sought a life of comfort in the wake of his kingdom's recession. He bravely traversed the darkest part of the woods, feeling his way through the trees after his trusty lantern burned out. When he saw a flicker of light, he was certain the porta...

I recently got a copy of one of my favorite card games, Once Upon a Time from Atlas games . The game has a series of fairy tale-themed story prompts that allow players to take turns telling a story in an attempt to drive it toward their ending card. It can be a fun party game, and it's also an excellent tool for writers who want to tell a story but have trouble coming up with ideas. I'm hoping to use this game to revive my Story Saturday  prompts and develop more short stories about princesses. I stopped sharing weekly stories a while ago due to a lack of inspiration. Let's see how many more I can create using my new story deck. "The Prince's Betrothed" Once upon a time, there was a giant named Pete who was in love with the fair Princess Madeline, despite the fact she was hardly bigger than his thumb. Another problem was that Princess Madeline was already betrothed to Prince Drake, who she admired for his bravery and charm. Pete's devotion to the princess ...

In late 2019, ABC greenlit a new romance drama  produced by  Eddy Kitsis  and  Adam Horowitz  about Disney and fairy tale characters living in an enchanted forest. If that sounds familiar to you, that's because it is the exact formula that was used to create the 2011 ABC drama, Once Upon a Time , and by the same producers, no less. Once Upon a Time's seventh season was treated as a reboot of sorts and was, in many people's opinion, when the Disney-owned fairy tale drama finally jumped the shark . Why, then, would they think it's a good idea to do it all over again? Disney's  behavior in recent years  shows a dearth of creativity, as does  Hollywood in general , so it isn't all that surprising that they would want to recreate a show that already has a fanbase, just as they've been tirelessly recreating their classic movies . However, the question remains that just because they can, does that mean they should? From an objective standpoint, Onc...

It's been two years since we left Storybrooke , and many people still aren't ready to say goodbye. ABC's Once Upon a Time  is a bit of an enigma to me. It started out as a clever concept featuring Snow White's estranged daughter, Emma Swan , who grew up in our miserable reality having no idea that she had an epic destiny ahead of her. Over time, the show weened off from its original characters and turned into a blatant marketing ploy for Disney's newest franchises. I guess that's what happens when you put a show about fairy tales on a channel owned by a studio that produces the most well-known theatrical versions of them. Many of us look back at the first season when the show was new and innovative with a nostalgic optimism for what it could have been. This weekend, PattyCake Productions released their take on this iconic series with a new music video called "Once Upon a Time: The Musical" . From what I have seen, PattyCake Productions makes two kinds...

Disney recently announced that they will begin production on the live-action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . This announcement was a long time coming, beginning with plans for a movie featuring Snow White's sister Rose Red  from the fairy tale  "Snow White and Rose Red"  before ultimately deciding to go back to their standard route of lazily recreating something they already made . This wouldn't be the first live-action portrayal of Snow White for Disney. Ginnifer Goodwin starred as the fair-skinned princess for six seasons on ABC's Once Upon a Time , which was owned and shamelessly plugged by Disney. In my opinion, there are very few actresses who can convey the same combination of innocence, spirit, and altruism that Ginnifer brought to the character. In 2012, there were two live-action adaptations of "Snow White" in theaters from competing studios, neither of which were Disney. Still, this announcement marks the first time that Disn...

With all the controversy over Halle Bailey getting cast as Ariel , I wondered why nobody made such a big deal out of all other times Disney race-bent a fairy tale princess. This is not intended to be  another post about why we should support Halle  but instead an analysis of all the other times this happened in a Disney production. This is such a hot button issue right now that people are talking about it when they don't even have all the facts. ABC's The View aired an episode in which Whoopi Goldberg claimed that Halle was voicing the character for an animated production, and other people are making videos where they claim that Ariel isn't a princess  or that she had green skin in the original fairy tale . Let's take a moment to get our facts straight while we explore how this is something that Disney has been doing for over 20 years. Cinderella - 1997 This is the one that people remember the most fondly, and for good reason. Whitney Houston 's passion pro...